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Here are the biggest video game franchises in UK history

The Top 30 Boxed Games account for nearly £13bn in revenue, according to GfK

Charts specialist GfK has revealed the 30 highest earning video game franchises in UK history by boxed sales.

Based on data from 1995, the firm says that these 30 games generated over £12.7bn in revenue over the course of 27 years.

FIFA is unsurprisingly the No.1 UK brand, with its 50 games over nearly 30 years beating second-place Call of Duty, which has had 32 games over nearly 20 years.

Today, FIFA is an annualised franchise, but there have been years with numerous releases. GfK remembers 2006, which saw the release of FIFA 07, FIFA Street 2, FIFA World Cup Germany 2006 and FIFA Manager 07.

Meanwhile, Call of Duty's peak -- at least in physical terms -- was with 2010's Call of Duty: Black Ops and 2011's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.

Third place is Nintendo's Mario franchise, which includes all of Mario's sub-brands. This data covers 109 games, with the biggest boxed sellers being Mario Kart Wii, Mario Kart 8 and New Super Mario Bros.

At No.4 is Rockstar's Grand Theft Auto series. The franchise has always been hugely popular, but GTA 5 has been the stand-out. Based on boxed sales alone, GTA 5 has accounted for 40% of GTA's overall franchise sales in the UK. If we were to add in digital sales, it's safe to say that split would be even higher.

11 of the games in the Top 30 are licensed titles, such as LEGO (the biggest licensed brand), Star Wars, Tom Clancy and Harry Potter. Combined with the best-selling sports brands, such as WWE, F1, PGA Tour and FIFA, the licensed games on this list have together generated £2.8 billion since 1995.

"This is a fascinating list and anyone who has been following the development of the video game industry as I have will no doubt show little surprise at the sheer value, size, and breadth of this market," says Dorian Bloch, GfK's senior client insight director for Gaming.

"What was once seen as a niche sector is now an unquestionably mainstream market generating billions in revenue annually. The characters in these games have become much-loved heroes, from Lara Croft to Luigi and Mario, to Sonic the Hedgehog. Terms used in the franchises have entered our vocabulary, and there are more than a few gamers who could navigate their way around the outskirts of San Francisco from their time at the wheel of a stolen car in GTA."

The UK Top 30 Selling Video Game Brands by Revenue

No. Name Title Count Series Start Publisher
1 FIFA 50 1993 EA
2 Call of Duty 32 2003 Activision Blizzard
3 Mario 109 1987 Nintendo
4 Grand Theft Auto 21 1997 Rockstar
5 LEGO 77 1997 Warner/LucasArts/TT Games/Eidos
6 Star Wars 113 1983 EA/LucasArts/Warner
7 The Sims 106 2000 EA
8 Pokémon 93 1999Nintendo
9 Assassin's Creed 27 2007 Ubisoft
10 Need For Speed 30 1994 EA
11 Sonic 55 1991 Sega
12 WWE and WWF 61 1987 Take-Two/THQ/Acclaim
13 Marvel 106 1982 Sony/Warner/Square Enix
14 Wii Fit 3 2008 Nintendo
15 Tom Clancy 72 1997 Ubisoft
16 Guitar Hero/DJ Hero 18 2006 Activision Blizzard
17 Pro Evolution Soccer 22 2001 Konami
18 Skylanders 6 2011 Activision Blizzard
19 Battlefield 30 2002 EA
20 Tomb Raider 31 1996Eidos/Square Enix
21 Halo 15 2001 Microsoft
22 DC 43 1986 Warner/EA/Square/Telltale
23 Formula One 66 1992 Codemasters/EA/Sony
24 Gran Turismo 13 1998 Sony
25 Forza 13 2005 Microsoft
26 Harry Potter 13 2001EA/Warner
27 Crash Bandicoot 22 1996 Activision/Vivendi/Sony
28 The Olympic Games 20 1992 Sega/Nintendo/Eidos/Konami/T2
29 Zelda 35 1987 Nintendo
30 PGA Tour Golf 46 1990 EA/Take-Two
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Christopher Dring avatar

Christopher Dring

Head of Games B2B

Chris is a 17-year media veteran specialising in the business of video games. And, erm, Doctor Who